Shooting survivor speaks out about experience

Posted at: 01/14/2014 6:25 PM
By: Erica Zucco, KOB Eyewitness News 4

Tammy Kaiser was in Seattle at the Jewish Federation building when a gunman opened fire in 2006, shooting six women. Kaiser was one of the women who survived. She says the memories haunt her every day, but comfort from family and friends is what helps her make it through.

“It might stay in the minds of the public for a week,” Kaiser said. “In the case of Sandy Hook maybe longer, but for people that are part of a shooting, regardless of whether they are injured, shot, whether they’re a parent, whether they are a friend, whether they have family in a city where it occurs...the shooting happens every day.”

Since the shooting, Kaiser has advocated for gun safety through rallies and lobbying, so it pains her to see shootings like the one in Roswell still happening.

“You have parents and you have children that know they need to go back to middle school but all of a sudden this place of safety and security is terrifying,” Kaiser said.

She says one of the best things friends and family can do is check on survivors not just days or weeks, but months after a shooting.

“When you are in the middle of gunfire,” Kaiser said, “Whether you're hiding and hearing it, whether you don’t hear it but your school is on lockdown and word is someone has a gun, you're not thinking rationally, you're thinking survival mode...and that adrenaline doesn't go away right away.”

She says survivors might not want to talk at first, so just make sure they know you’re there, ready to listen.